Nick Heidfeld

Nick made his debut in F1 in the year 2000 for Prost Peugeot finishing his first season in the sport in 20th position scoring no points.

In 2001 he moved to Sauber and was joined in the team by rookie Kimi Raikkonen and scored a respectable 12 points finishing 8th in the WDC standings for the midfield team beating his rookie teammate. At the end of 2001 is was widely reported that Nick would replace retiring F1 legend Mika Hakkinen at Mclaren but he was left disappointed because it was infact his rookie teammate that landed the drive at Mclaren ahead of him.

So in the end he ended up spending another two seasons with Sauber paired with rookie Felipe Massa in 2002 scoring 7 points and in 2003 he was partner by fellow German Heniz-Harald Frentzen scoring 6 points.

In 2004 Nick swapped Sauber for Jordon and was partnered by both Pantano and Glock at the team scoring JUST 3 points.

In 2005 Heidfeld left Jordon and joined team Williams BMW partnering Austrailan Mark Webber after having a shoot out with Pizzonia for the second seat at Williams. Heidfeld went on to score 28 points that season for Williams. During that season he scored his first ever Pole Position and went on to claim 2 podiums.

In 2006 Heidfeld and BMW left Williams and took over the Sauber team. Heidfelds teammate to begin with that season was former World Champion Jacque Villeneuve, but after Villeneuve hurt himself at the German GP, he was replaced by rookie Robert Kubica. Heidfeld in 2006 scored 23 points.

In the seasons that followed Heidfeld stayed at BMW until their quit the sport back in 2009. In 2007 he scored 61 points, in 2008 he scored 81 points and in 2009 he scored 19 points.

In 2010 he joined Mercedes GP as a test and reserve driver but at the Singapore GP he was drafted in too replace Pedro De La Rosa at the Sauber team he partnered Kamui Kobayashi for the rest of the season scoring 6 points.

Now in 2011 Heidfeld is driver for the Renault Lotus team after former teammate Robert Kubica suffered a crash in a rally earlier in the year. He has currently scored 34 points so far and is partnered with former GP2 runner up Vitaly Petrov.

Heidfeld's Career has been very steady, but what has Heidfeld got/had missing in him to make top teams take notice of him?
 
Kovalainen has a contract no? And seems happy at Lotus.

Hulkenberg? No...he doesn't have any sponsors, unlike Sutil, same with Kobayashi.

Thanks for pointing out Kobayashi Ray, is he contracted? How come there is no talk of him switching teams? I am intrigued....:thinking:
 
Kubica was being paid about 7 or 8 or 9 Million. So, if Kubica can't race, that money becomes available.

I'm sure Kovalainen would rather be qualifing the car in Q3 ... as opposed to being happy that he's the fastest of the new cars in Q1.

That's not what a proper racing driver's ambition should be.

I'd rather drive a Lotus Renault GP and be fighting for 6th or 7th ot 8th than a Lotus-Renault fighting for 16th or 17th or 18th.

Wouldn't you? I mean, how happy can a driver be qualifying 18th or whatever Kovy's qualifying?

As per Koba and Hulk, well....they have more potential than Heidfeld!

I'd rather take the risk on Kobayashi 10 times out of 10 than pay Heidfeld.

Sauber has even less of a budget than Renault so Koba's pocket book and his points haul could be superior if he moved over to take over the seat.

Nothing is being said because everything hinges on Kubica's recovery.

No winter testing of any note until 1 month before the season gets underway means teams can wait until January to sign drivers.
 
Quick Nick who i now have a tendancy to call Heidfield (Thanks DC :clip:) Always been consistent and if I had a team and couldn't get anyone better, Nick would be a good bet, you can bet your chassis it will be used next race!
 
Absolutely hilarious Ray.

You do realise that it's not all about current performance. That's important, of course it is. But I think what really motivates Kovalainen is the challenge of taking a team from the bottom to the top. Imagine if a few years down the line Team Lotus are grabbing podiums and wins, and he's heading that success. That's what he wants to build. He's been at the front end at McLaren, and it didn't work out, but he's been there and done it. Lotus have been good for him mentally I think.

He's also said himself he's very happy at the team, and I think he has a better idea of knowing if he's happy more than you do.
 
I'd love to see Heidfeld do something like Le Man de 24 hours when he does eventually give up on F1. Or still goes racing maybe to DTM or WTCC, as he'd be a good asset to any team in one of them series.
 
I'd love to see Heidfeld do something like Le Man de 24 hours when he does eventually give up on F1. Or still goes racing maybe to DTM or WTCC, as he'd be a good asset to any team in one of them series.

I don't see him in either of those category if I am honest :dunno:

Maybe DTM if he signs for Mercedes, but I think he will always be lurking for an F1 seat until he calls it quits.
 
I don't see him in either of those category if I am honest :dunno:

Maybe DTM if he signs for Mercedes, but I think he will always be lurking for an F1 seat until he calls it quits.

Can't see him getting many more chances in F1 after this season though, he's been at almost all the teams on the grid and surely now is a better time to pack it all in and not head down the Trulli root.
 
Can't see him getting many more chances in F1 after this season though, he's been at almost all the teams on the grid and surely now is a better time to pack it all in and not head down the Trulli root.

Ah, I am sure if he shaved that beard Whippet would buy it for a few million, therefore he can go to HRT a team he has not been to.

Actually if I was him, I would try and get the record of "driving for all the teams on the current grid", now that will be a good record to have :)
 
Actually if I was him, I would try and get the record of "driving for all the teams on the current grid", now that will be a good record to have :)

Thats not such a bad idea! But still wouldn't want him to be in a struggling team going into his late 30's a la Barrichello and Trulli.
TBH he's got the look of a touring car driver so i think he'd do alright in on of them series. Plus he'd get a chance to win a race every now and then.
 
This Heidfeld situation.

The problem is "Renault" are short on money and need a top driver to keep the sponsors happy. In Kubica they have a world class driver whom the other big teams would eye up if he was available.

The second driver must therefore at least have a sizeable wallet to bring to the team ..in Petrov they have this given the extra incentive that Russia is going to join the GP calendar in 2014

What "Renault" were hoping from Heidfeld was to at least beat Mercedes his former employers but that has not happened and he is getting beaten by Force India as well plus his qualifying has let him down and he has not made Q3 enough. Given this is his opportunity to re-establish himself being No 1 in the team they are trying to measure him against the level that Kubica achieved last year against Petrov. Thats a hard act to follow and he is now confirming why
Ron Dennis did not pick him and chose Kimi. He's a steady solid driver but does not have the application to be a No 1 in the team

Renault want ideally Kubica back but Bouillier manages Grosjean and feels he is ready to have a fair shot at F1 after his career was nearly wrecked by Flavio Briatore's bad management and using him as a pawn against NElson Piquet jr

Also there is Bruno Senna and the name might help attract sponsors for the team as well
 
Renault want ideally Kubica back but Bouillier manages Grosjean ...

Hmmm. Really? Boullier is Grosjean's manager? Huh! Interesting...

I suppose Grosjean would need to be lightning quick to be able to attract Kubica-type attention. No? Anything other than Grosjean being Kubica-quick and Kubica-consistent won't help Boullier, then, right?
 
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